Cwillz Spills » thinking

Clapton not Cream of Christian Crop?

Chris Williams — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:43:44 +0000

Albulm Artwork

This morning we found a burned cd in our office. We had no idea how it got there, but I popped it into my lappy to see what it was. It turned out to be “The Cream of Clapton”, which was a delightful surprise to me. My boss told me that I could keep it if I wanted, but that we shouldn’t give it to the students. I must have crinkled my forehead because he started in on the reason why. His position basically that because Clapton has been a drug user and writes songs about drug use and that our students have or do struggle with substance abuse and addiction issues, we shouldn’t let them listen to music made by a man with a past drug use.

I can follow his line of reasoning. Also, we have a Christian music only policy because we are a ministry and some parents are concerned about the music that we allow students to listen to, which obviously is a very good thing. Being concerned about the media input into our student’s lives is a very good thing. Yet, I am very hesitant about throwing Clapton out so easily.

Where this line is broken for me is what we call “Christian”.

(Pause for a minute. At this point I simply agreed to follow the direction he was giving, but have been thinking about this topic today. The dialogue between my boss and me is representative of some tensions in the daily lives of sincere believers, and that is why I want to explore it here (actually, I am just going to present the side I believe to be most correct in order to get you to agree with me). I will continue to follow his direction for the program. )

Where is the line between what is Christian and “not”? Obviously there are expressly Christian artists, musicians, magazines, etc. What is it about them that makes their art Christian art? I submit that we must claim truth as truth without regard to the person expressing it, and that logically if you believe in a Christian worldview, then all truth is proper to God. What that means is that it cannot be true unless it belongs to God. Therefore, if it contains truth, that truth is “Christian”.

So how is Clapton’s music “Christian music”? (The italics below are an accident that I can’t seem to fix – please ignore)

1) Clapton has an almost indisputable ability to create beautiful things (there is subjectivity here, but many if not most people experience a level of connection to his music). People who study philosophy at a level much higher than I could explain this in more meaningful terms, but a leading thought in aesthetics(commonly known as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values) is that the beauty of something is directly proportional to the truth it contains. Clapton’s art is beautiful, therefore it must contain truth. If it contains truth, it can be called “Christian”.

2) Christ’s call on our lives is to participate in a new humanity. Part of this call to a new humanity is a call to excellence, even perfection. Humans benefit from models of excellence and can be inspired to more fully participate in the New Humanity in Christ through examples of excellent artists, athletes, scholars, teachers, parents, life-livers, etc EVEN if they are not expressly Christian.

3) Clapton’s life may not be perfect, but his example of music as a creative and or cathartic outlet for pain is a great example of how to handle life’s hardships. Clapton’s life is marked by identity issues and also with terribly tragedies during some parts of his life. “Tears in Heaven” (the first single and tape I ever owned) is admittedly written in response to the tragic death of Eric’s 4 year old son and of his good friend and tour-mate Stevie Ray Vaughan within a year of each other. This song contains a blatant and obvious reference to heaven, which could be biblically supported. While heaven is part of our western culture mythology, one should note the aspirations and hope found in heaven by a grieving father and artist seriously.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

Tagged: Arts, Christian, Christian Education, Christianity, Cream, Cream of Clapton, Eric Clapton, faith and culture, media, ministry, music, music culture, the Bible, thinking, youth ministry

Chuck Colson, Greg Boyd, and Shane Claiborne all in one room

Chris Williams — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:21:49 +0000

Krista Tippet and Zondervan recently teamed up to host a discussion with Charles Colson, Greg Boyd, and Shane Clairborne about Evangelicals and politics. There is great input from all three, exploring the tensions that I like to flesh out with my friends like Neil, Adam, Jennifer, Scott, Ben, Dauthan, Bryant, my small group, and others. Here is a small taste:

The full versions are available(web stream or MP3 download) on the Speaking of Faith site and on iTunes for free.

A few of my thoughts:

1) I want to be like all 3 of these men when I grow up. Each has been very faithful with what God has given them.

2) I felt a little bad for Chuck Colson because I think he didn’t get a chance to speak as much. Maybe that isn’t true, but I really wanted him to say more.

3) Notice there are honest and somewhat should-be abrupt disagreements between these men (the most obvious being Shane’s blatant anti-military stance), but it is clear that these guys are on the same team. Hopefully the core group of people that follow each of them agree on that.

4) Greg’s story about mixing nationalism and faith really hits home with me. It bothers me deeply that many Christians I know’s view of Christ is inseperably entangled in Americana. See this post.

5) Where are the women? Momma T!

6)Where are the minorities? Discussion about Dr.King does happen quite a bit in the session, which is a starting point for the necessary inclusion of minority voices.

7) Colson is a tough old man and I love his fatherly tone when he suggests that others need to have the courage “take a political stance” and go from there.

8) There seems to be a big tension between Augustinian thought and Jesus thought, or at least the expressions from those who emphasize one over the other.

Which one of these men would you vote for if all three were running for president?

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

Tagged: America, Chuck Colson, dr. martin luther king jr, Evangelicals, Faith, faith and culture, Greg Boyd, justice, Krista Tippet, Mother Theresa, politics, public radio, Shane Claiborne, the Kingdom, thinking

A Christian’s Posture to World

Chris Williams — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 05:05:38 +0000

Our posture to the world needs to be one of hands raised in support, open, steady, and supported by the fear and love of God. All too often we start with open, supportive, weak-yet-empowered hands that influence out world and fellow humans towards love, justice, peace, and godliness–only to later close our fists to grasp control, not realizing that a closed hand will eventually lead to a closed heart and a saltless life that is only a shell of the Gospel which once was allowed to live through us.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillz

Tagged: Christianity, church, culture, Faith, gospel, thinking, youth ministry

Thursday Quik Thought: Badness and Goodness

Chris Williams — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:09:54 +0000

Caddyshack. I haven’t seen this movie in a while but this part of it came into mind recently:

“Son, there are two forces in the world– Goodness and Badness. You need to decide which you want to be. Do you want to be good?” – Judge Smails to Spalding. (close-enough paraphrase).

The difference between being overwhelmed by badness and being an agent of goodness is a matter of perception. You can look at the world at find as much badness as you like, but this is not a good way to look at it. A better way is to see the badness as opportunity for goodness to do its work, or for us to do goodness.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

Tagged: badness, Caddyshack, fun, goodness, movies, Spiritual Disciplines, thinking

I Miss the Primaries…

Chris Williams — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:04:26 +0000

This election has turned depressing for me, and I think that many people feel the same way. The hard part of it is is that in February, I wanted to see a McCain / Obama race. This is my second election to vote in, and early this summer I felt as if I was going to get to vote for the better of two goods and not the lesser of two bads as I felt last election. That was easier to see before they entered into a struggle for votes.

The primaries and pre-primary debates were fun to watch because of the ideas and sense of togetherness that competetion within the same parties could bring. It was great to watch people sharpen themseles and share the distinctive ways they saw issues. These were days where talking about politics had a general sense of “Yes, but [the issue is different/can be best addressed this way/is not that simple]“.

The past few weeks have turned from “yes, but…” to “no, and [some insult to the other party or candidate/you kicked your dog as a kid]“. This is getting old. I wanted these candidates because they are thinkers and moderates who I think will acutally represent the American people.

Arguing ad hominem over commercials is damaging. I wish both Barack and John would become a little more “elitist” and not stoop so low to cut each other. In my opinion, they are going to need each other over the next 4 years.

Libronix For Mac

Chris Williams — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:37:00 +0000

Have a mac, love to study the Bible and depressed about the options available to you?

Libronix, a great scholarly tool for studying the Bible and theology, is going cool. I used Libronix quite a bit over the last few years and really wish I had it for myself.

Thought I would spread the word.
If you want to buy it for me, that would be good too

May the Lord’s will be done,
CWillZ

Free Books Online!

Chris Williams — Sun, 11 May 2008 23:43:00 +0000

Just stumbled upon a site with a bunch of books online for free.

Love it

Online Books, Poems, Short Stories – Read Print

Listening to Solomon: personal discipline of copying

Chris Williams — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:07:00 +0000

One of our chapel speakers, Mary Poplin, talked about how transcribing biblical texts has helped her re-order her thinking after her adult conversion to following Christ. Her conversion came well after she established herself in the world of “secular” scholarship. This scholarship was incomplete and in disarray without the truth of Christ.

I have been experimenting this month with that discipline, copying a chapter of Proverbs (conveniently there is one for each day of the month) each day by hand. The results have been beneficial. I find myself thinking about and remember what I have read more than simply reading them.

Not dry and humdrum, but an avenue for a mixed up mind to mend.

Don’t Read This

Chris Williams — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 06:53:00 +0000

Sorry, in advance. Constipation of thoughts recently.

My task this week is to write a section of my Philosophy of Ministry paper that explains the Ultimate Purpose. I know God, so I guess I can presume that there is a purpose.

I have heard Ultimate Purpose expressed in a variety of ways, and have written a similar paper previously. Instead of simply ripping that idea off, I decided to poke around the thought world to see what the Tradition had to offer. Brian McLaren‘s mentions the Eastern Orthodox view that that Christ’s coming to earth was a way of allowing creation to join in the perfect dance of the trinity.

I googled “Ultimate Purpose Trinity”. It didn’t take long until I was bored of reading the debates between wether or not to call Jesus a “person”, “expression” or “distinctinve/indistinctive essence”. I found a blog post that link to another, and another that had a cool name.

I read about how the author was shutting down the blog. I also read some of the posts, mostly because some people are getting hurt. The blog is re-opened and looks about the same. My thought is: with things like this on the site, how do you expect people not to respond in a way that hurts someone, even if they are brothers in the faith?

Switch gears to the laundry room in Morris Hall last night. My dear friend Christian Leman and I were about an hour into a discussion about what the Gospel means. One of my guys from the floor comes down to hear the end of me ranting about about how debates in theology can be divisive, and how they can become “essential” rather than “important”.

Christian left while his clothes were in the dryer, and the other friend said to me, “I really didn’t expect to hear you say something like that.”

A little aback I said “What do you mean?”

He said, “I just think of you as kind of person who likes to think about all that stuff”

It strikes me that I would be the person that is perceived to place thought above love.

You are burning to know what I think is essential.

LOVE GOD, LOVE ALL PEOPLE.